Foreword

Article Outline

• Copyright

Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is the commonest cause of hospital admission in patients with coronary artery disease. Acute myocardial infarction is a common and very important component of the ACS.

The availability of reperfusion therapy (thrombolysis and percutaneous coronary interventions) had radically altered our approach to and management of these patients. To provide maximum benefit to patients, it is extremely important and essential that the diagnosis is correct and is made rapidly to allow for instituting lifesaving therapy.

In this issue, Drs Gersh, Reeder, and colleagues provide an up-to-date comprehensive review of the epidemiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, risk stratification, and therapy of ST-elevation and non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction. They are very active clinical investigators and excellent clinicians with extensive experience in managing patients with acute myocardial infarction. They included 139 references. The editorial board and I are grateful for their review; they have regularly updated our readers on this topic. Dr Elliott M. Antmann^⁎ is one of the world’s experts in this field and the editorial board and I are truly thrilled that he has provided comments and shared his expertise with all of us.

• ⁎ Elliott M. Antmann, MD, is Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and Director of Samuel A. Levine Cardiac Unit at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA.